After winning a landslide electoral victory earlier this month, President-elect Donald Trump is calling on Republican senators to stop incumbent President Joe Biden from appointing new federal judges in the final weeks of his term. The U.S. Senate confirmed Biden-appointed Embry Kidd to the 11th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in a 49 to 45 vote earlier this week when several GOP senators — including Mike Braun (Ind.), Steve Daines (Mont.), Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio (Fla.), and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance (Ohio) — did not show up to vote. Trump called on Republicans to show up and block Biden from confirming more federal judges before Trump himself takes office.

“The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with Radical Left Judges on their way out the door. Republican Senators need to Show Up and Hold the Line — No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!” Trump posted on X. Other conservatives have echoed Trump’s call. Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) said, “President Trump is right. Senate Republicans need to do everything we can to stop the confirmation of horrible Biden-appointed judges.” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) explained, “This leftist judge would have been voted down and the seat on the important 11th circuit would have been filled by Donald Trump next year had Republicans showed up. Now, the leftist judge will have a lifetime appointment and the people of FL, AL and GA will suffer the consequences.”

Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said that if Republican senators don’t show up then “we lose.” According to The Hill, Tillis said, “I don’t care what the reasons were. We have fewer than 15 scheduled legislative days. You have to show up. Period. End of story. There’s nothing more important.” He continued, “We’ve got potentially dozens we could have shoved down our throat — except for us being here. We’ve got to talk to these folks like adults and show up.”

Senator Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said, “If we’re going to be effective, we’ve got to show up, and I think that’s the frustration for those of us who did show up and stay.” When asked how frustrated he was at the absence of his colleagues, Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) replied, “On a scale of one to 10, a 12.” He explained that most of Biden’s judicial nominees are unqualified to serve as judges, citing his experience interviewing nominees as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “They did horrible jobs in committee, and we had the votes to prevent them from being confirmed, but some of the folks on our side couldn’t be here, and it’s frustrating,” Kennedy said.

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board also took absent Republican senators to task in an op-ed. Referring to Kidd’s confirmation this week, WSJ wrote, “Mr. Embry will now enjoy a lifetime appointment to the federal bench because Republicans couldn’t get their full team on the field.” The absent senators, WSJ said, couldn’t “make it, had conflicts, had more pressing matters, apparently. It’s all the same to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who marked up another success.” In a since-deleted X post, Vance said that he missed the vote because he was interviewing candidates for the role of FBI director with Trump. WSJ responded, “Nice to hear he’s on the job that begins in January, which is two months away. But a few good GOP excuses can mean a lifetime on the bench. Republican Senators have a duty in the lame duck to show up for these votes.” The editorial board added, “Any judicial vacancy that goes unfilled now will be Mr. Trump’s to nominate someone to fill.”

Current Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), who was recently elected majority leader by his Republican colleagues, told Fox News that he intends to halt confirmation of Biden’s judicial appointments using time-consuming Senate procedures. “If Sen. Schumer thought Senate Republicans would just roll over and allow him to quickly confirm multiple Biden-appointed judges to lifetime jobs in the final weeks of the Democrat majority, he thought wrong,” Thune said in a statement. In order to confirm judicial nominees, the Senate has to move from a legislative session to an executive session, which is typically achieved by unanimous consent. However, Thune and other Republicans have been slowing down the process by requiring a formal, time-consuming vote to move to an executive session.

However, current Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is preparing to prioritize the confirmation of even more of Biden’s nominees to both judicial and administrative positions before Democrats lose control of both the White House and the Senate.